Get Uber's self-driving trucks off the road: watchdog

Former NASA engineer Mark Moore will now be working on Uber's flying car project, Uber Elevate. Matt Hoffman reports.
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SAN FRANCISCO — Seems like Uber is in another tussle with the California Department of Motor Vehicles over its self-driving vehicle testing. And this time it's trucks.

A southern California non-profit that has long raised concerns about the safety of autonomous vehicles has asked the DMV to look more closely at the operations of Otto, a self-driving truck company that Uber bought last year for $670 million.

Otto made headlines in October when it completed a 120-mile beer run with a large semi-tractor in Colorado.

A few months ago, Uber announced it would begin testing self-driving Volvo SUVs in this hilly city, but a day later that process was halted after the DMV said Uber had not applied for the proper permits. Uber moved its fleet to Arizona.

Uber cars laden with sensors still troll San Francisco, but the company said that is only for mapping purposes.

Otto is a self-driving truck company started by Google veterans and bought by Uber last year.(Photo: Martin E. Klimek, Special for USA TODAY)

Last year, Otto invited USA TODAY to ride in its Volvo trucks in San Francisco, a short drive that mainly saw the vehicle stick to its lane while a driver watched over the controls. The company noted that this did not officially constitute self-driving mode.

But Consumer Watchdog's John Simpson charged in a letter to DMV director Jean Shiomoto that in fact Otto's testing in this city did violate the law by operating in autonomous mode, offering proof in the form of documentation Otto submitted to Colorado officials that described a process where the driver hit a button and let the truck do the work.

"There is no more explicit description of how self-driving testing is performed," wrote Simpson. "Otto is simply doing this in violation of the law."

Otto staff met with the DMV and the California Highway Patrol and indicated that its trucks are not capable of operating in autonomous mode in California, the DMV told USA TODAY. Since then, the Department has received a copy of the Colorado document and is looking into the issue, it said.